Understanding the solitude in the elderly

Abstract

Solitude affect daily activities and quality life of elderly people. It is less investigated and recognized by geriatrics and gerontology professionals. The objective of this article was study the solitude in the elderly analysing the relation with social isolation, depression, mourning and helplessness. We studied 132 patients, 96 women and 36 men, with sixty years or more, of The Geriatric and Gerontological Center of Universidade Federal Fluminense. They answered one questionary about their feelings of solitude. Of them, 83,33% agreed that live alone may decrease quality life; 55,06% associated that retirement contribute to social isolation and 80,30% said that depressive symptoms leads to social isolation. The majority of the interviewers didn't live alone (85,61%), although we detected 35,42% of women (n= 34) and 22,22% of men (n=8) felling solitaires. Only 16,67% agreed that nowadays the sons care of their parents. Depression, mourning, social isolation and helplessness were analyzed in solitary persons. In solitaires 40,47% were probably depressive and abandoned; 88,09% didn’t go to a club or make any group activity. Sadness after relatives death were related to solitude greater in women (18/34) than in men (1/8). Family and work connections seems to prevent solitude. The principal goal to prevent or reduce loneliness in elderly is interdisciplinary healthy promotion programs, that include family education and social inclusion.